Tag Archives: sandy hook

I’m not a politician. I don’t pretend to be. But it’s quite clear that this country has a problem with guns. The Valentine’s Day school shooting in Florida is the latest massacre that left innocent people dead at the hands of a madman. It won’t be the last. I guarantee you that there will be another major mass shooting before the month is over. How many more Columbines and Sandy Hooks do we have to endure before we wake the fuck up and do something?

Americans love guns. They are a huge part of our history. They are huge part of our entertainment. The top five movies of all time are Avatar, Titanic, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Jurassic World, and Marvel’s The Avengers. Pretty diverse movies ranging from fantastic space operas, historical love epics, to dinosaurs and superhero collaborations. They all feature guns. We are encouraged to own guns. It’s ingrained in us thanks to mass media and the power of the NRA and a corrupt government that always turns a blind eye.

I’ve shot guns before. I went to a shooting range in Alaska and shot a few handguns and an AR-15. It was fun. I get why people like it. But guns kill people. That’s what they were designed to do, especially the AR-15. Anyone remember lawn darts? That was a game where people threw foot long darts with metal tips at a target. It was a fun childhood game, innocent to the core. Over a ten year period 6,700 people in the USA were injured by lawn darts. 75% of these injuries were to children, three of whom died. Things that kill children are bad, so the government wisely stepped in and banned the sale of lawn darts. Lawn darts killed three kids in ten years and that was enough to make them illegal. Seventeen people died yesterday in Parkland, Florida. Something is clearly wrong here.

Like this:

I didn’t want to write about this. I wanted to write about something funny, something happy. But this is not a happy time in America. It’s almost commonplace for a school shooting to happen every few months. I doubt this one would have made such an impact if it weren’t for the victims being so young. The shooter (I won’t mention that’s scum’s name, he doesn’t deserve it) primarily went after kindergarteners. I know he had mommy issues, but how does killing six-year-olds solve anything? What did they ever do? Did they have the audacity to have their whole lives ahead of them?

There are waves of victims in any massacre. You have the ones that get killed, paralyzed, scarred for life. You have the ones who escaped with psychological damage, wondering if it will happen again every time they go out in public places, asking why they survived when others didn’t. You have the families and friends who will never get to see their loved ones again, hating themselves for not getting the chance to say a real goodbye. And you have the rest of the general public, quietly grieving, secretly relieved that it happened somewhere else and not to them. But everybody is asking “WHY!?!”

Maybe there is no why. Maybe there is no because. But good things always come out of a tragedy. You find out what really matters, what you really care about. I just wish we didn’t have to pay the price to be reminded so often. Life is unpredictable; you have to take it as it comes. Tell the people you care about that you care about them. Tell your family you love them. Tell your friends that you’re friends for a reason. Enjoy all your laughs. Cherish every kiss. And always say goodbye.